1991 Cincinnati Reds season

1991 Cincinnati Reds
LeagueNational League
DivisionWest
BallparkRiverfront Stadium
CityCincinnati, Ohio
Record74–88 (.457)
Divisional place5th
OwnersMarge Schott
General managersBob Quinn
ManagersLou Piniella
TelevisionWLWT, SportsChannel
(Marty Brennaman, Gordy Coleman, Steve LaMar)
RadioWLW
(Marty Brennaman, Joe Nuxhall)
← 1990 Seasons 1992 →

The 1991 Cincinnati Reds season had the team defend their World Series championship, but the team would finish with a losing mark, regressing 17 games from the season before. Their winning percentage (.457) set a new record for worst among defending World Series champions, besting the previous mark set by the Chicago White Sox in 1918. This would be a record for seven years.[1]

Offseason

  • January 29, 1990: Skeeter Barnes was signed as a free agent by the Reds.[2]
  • December 5, 1990: Bill Doran was signed as a free agent with the Cincinnati Reds.[3]

Regular season

  • April 28, 1991: Against the Cubs, relief pitcher Rob Dibble nearly blew a save, allowing two runs on five hits. Clinging to a 4–3 lead in the ninth with the tying run on first, Dibble struck out Ryne Sandberg to finish the game. Despite the win, in frustration he then flung a baseball 400 feet into the center-field seats, inadvertently striking a woman.[4]
  • June 28, 1991: Barry Larkin had six RBIs in a game against the Houston Astros.
  • Barry Larkin had a 19-game hitting streak.
  • At the beginning of July, the Reds peaked at ten games above .500 (44–34). They were in second place in the NL West, only four games behind the Dodgers, and 3.5 games ahead of third place Atlanta.
  • On July 6, the Reds spiraled after a 3-0 loss to the Astros. They would lose ten games in a row from that day to July 19 that dropped them to .500 (44-44). They won the next day and ended July at .500 (49-49)
  • August saw the Reds essentially drop from contention. They would teeter around .500 before dropping down below the mark for good on August 31.
  • July 23, 1991: In the bottom of the eight inning of a 8–5 loss at the Cubs, Rob Dibble (fresh off a three-game suspension) was ejected for throwing the ball into the back of the leg of baserunner Doug Dascenzo.[5]

Season standings

NL West
Team W L Pct. GB Home Road
Atlanta Braves 94 68 .580 48‍–‍33 46‍–‍35
Los Angeles Dodgers 93 69 .574 1 54‍–‍27 39‍–‍42
San Diego Padres 84 78 .519 10 42‍–‍39 42‍–‍39
San Francisco Giants 75 87 .463 19 43‍–‍38 32‍–‍49
Cincinnati Reds 74 88 .457 20 39‍–‍42 35‍–‍46
Houston Astros 65 97 .401 29 37‍–‍44 28‍–‍53

Record vs. opponents


Sources: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12]
Team ATL CHC CIN HOU LAD MON NYM PHI PIT SD SF STL
Atlanta 6–6 11–7 13–5 7–11 5–7 9–3 5–7 9–3 11–7 9–9 9–3
Chicago 6–6 4–8 9–3 2–10 10–7 11–6 8–10 7–11 4–8 6–6 10–8
Cincinnati 7–11 8–4 9–9 6–12 6–6 5–7 9–3 2–10 8–10 10–8 4–8
Houston 5–13 3–9 9–9 8–10 2–10 7–5 7–5 4–8 6–12 9–9 5–7
Los Angeles 11–7 10–2 12–6 10–8 5–7 7–5 7–5 7–5 10–8 8–10 6–6
Montreal 7–5 7–10 6–6 10–2 7–5 4–14 4–14 6–12 6–6 7–5 7–11
New York 3–9 6–11 7–5 5–7 5–7 14–4 11–7 6–12 7–5 6–6 7–11
Philadelphia 7-5 10–8 3–9 5–7 5–7 14–4 7–11 6–12 9–3 6–6 6–12
Pittsburgh 3–9 11–7 10–2 8–4 5–7 12–6 12–6 12–6 7–5 7–5 11–7
San Diego 7–11 8–4 10–8 12–6 8–10 6–6 5–7 3–9 5–7 11–7 9–3
San Francisco 9–9 6–6 8–10 9–9 10–8 5–7 6–6 6–6 5–7 7–11 4–8
St. Louis 3–9 8–10 8–4 7–5 6–6 11–7 11–7 12–6 7–11 3–9 8–4


Notable transactions

  • June 14, 1991: Reggie Jefferson was traded by the Cincinnati Reds to the Cleveland Indians for Tim Costo.[6]
  • July 18, 1991: Stan Jefferson was signed as a free agent with the Cincinnati Reds.

Roster

1991 Cincinnati Reds
Roster
Pitchers Catchers

Infielders

Outfielders Manager

Coaches

Player stats

Batting

Starters by position

Note: Pos = Position; G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in

Pos Player G AB H Avg. HR RBI
C Jeff Reed 91 270 72 .267 3 31
1B Hal Morris 136 478 152 .318 14 59
2B Bill Doran 111 361 101 .280 6 35
3B Chris Sabo 153 582 175 .301 26 88
SS Barry Larkin 123 464 140 .302 20 69
LF Billy Hatcher 138 442 116 .262 4 41
CF Eric Davis 89 285 67 .235 11 33
RF Paul O'Neill 153 532 136 .256 28 91

Other batters

Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in

Player G AB H Avg. HR RBI
Mariano Duncan 100 333 86 .258 12 40
Joe Oliver 94 269 58 .216 11 41
Glenn Braggs 85 250 65 .260 11 39
Luis Quiñones 97 212 47 .222 4 20
Herm Winningham 98 169 38 .225 1 4
Carmelo Martínez 53 138 32 .232 6 19
Todd Benzinger 51 123 23 .187 1 11
Chris Jones 52 89 26 .292 2 6
Freddie Benavides 24 63 18 .286 0 3
Reggie Sanders 9 40 8 .200 1 3
Stan Jefferson 13 19 1 .053 0 0
Donnie Scott 10 19 3 .158 0 0
Glenn Sutko 10 10 1 .100 0 1
Reggie Jefferson 5 7 1 .143 1 1
Terry Lee 3 6 0 .000 0 0

Pitching

Starting pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player G IP W L ERA SO
Tom Browning 36 230.1 14 14 4.18 115
José Rijo 30 204.1 15 6 2.51 172
Jack Armstrong 27 139.2 7 13 5.48 93
Chris Hammond 20 99.2 7 7 4.06 50
Mo Sanford 5 28.0 1 2 3.86 31

Other pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player G IP W L ERA SO
Randy Myers 58 132.0 6 13 3.55 108
Norm Charlton 39 108.1 3 5 2.91 77
Scott Scudder 27 101.1 6 9 4.35 51
Kip Gross 29 85.2 6 4 3.47 40
Gino Minutelli 16 25.1 0 2 6.04 21

Relief pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

Player G W L SV ERA SO
Rob Dibble 67 3 5 31 3.17 124
Ted Power 68 5 3 3 3.62 51
Don Carman 28 0 2 1 5.25 15
Milt Hill 22 1 1 0 3.78 20
Tim Layana 22 0 2 0 6.97 14
Steve Foster 11 0 0 0 1.93 11
Keith Brown 11 0 0 0 2.25 4

Awards and honors

All-Star Game

  • Tom Browning, pitcher
  • Rob Dibble, relief pitcher
  • Barry Larkin, shortstop
  • Lou Piniella, manager

Farm system

Level Team League Manager
AAA Nashville Sounds American Association Pete Mackanin
AA Chattanooga Lookouts Southern League Jim Tracy
A Cedar Rapids Reds Midwest League Frank Funk
A Charleston Wheelers South Atlantic League P. J. Carey and Dave Miley
Rookie Princeton Reds Appalachian League Sam Mejías
Rookie Billings Mustangs Pioneer League P. J. Carey

[7]

References

  1. ^ "2014 Red Sox among worst defending champs in MLB history".
  2. ^ Skeeter Barnes page at Baseball Reference
  3. ^ "Bill Doran Statistics and History". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved August 24, 2012.
  4. ^ Parker, Rob (April 29, 1991). "More Dibble devilment". The Cincinnati Enquirer. p. 29. Retrieved August 17, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.Open access icon
  5. ^ Parker, Rob (July 24, 1991). "Dibble ejected for throwing at runner". Cincinnati Equirer. p. 11. Retrieved July 24, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.Open access icon
  6. ^ "Reggie Jefferson Statistics and History". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved August 24, 2012.
  7. ^ Johnson, Lloyd, and Wolff, Miles, ed., The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball, 3rd edition. Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America, 2007